Whether the issue is immigration, education or gay marriage, Sen. Linda Lopez is easily among the most passionate Democrats in the Arizona Legislature.

After all, she was a child of the ’60s and attended college at the University of California at Berkeley during one of the most turbulent eras in U.S. history. And she has devoted her life to helping children and promoting the ideals she learned while growing up.

She was born in Indiana in 1948 as Linda Jeanne Cosgray, but her formative years really took place in the San Francisco Bay area, where her family relocated in 1964. She attended UC Berkeley for two years before dropping out in 1968.

Like many in her generation, Lopez became politically active, taking part in night vigils to protest the death penalty or in marches against the Vietnam War, tuition fee increases and institutionalized racism. She remembers joining a march led by folk singers Joan Baez and Judy Collins.

She moved to Tucson in 1973, became a long-time school board member and joined the Legislature in 2001. She now serves as community relations coordinator for La Frontera Center, a behavioral health group, in Tucson.

So you went to UC Berkeley in the 1960s.

Yes, I graduated from high school in 1966. I spent two years there. I had a full four-year scholarship. I tuned in, turned on and dropped out. (Laughs)

Those were pretty turbulent times.

You know, it really was. I mean the Vietnam War and race relations were going on — the Black Power movement, and the Latino, the La Raza, movement, (was going on) as well.

And that’s why I say I’m so glad that my dad took us there because I had experiences there as well. I mean there were experiences growing up that shaped my life, but I think the experiences there in the San Francisco Bay area really, you know, determined who I am and played a big role in how I perceive things now.

What shaped your political views while you were there?

Well, I was really involved in the anti-death-penalty movement and participated in the vigils outside of the prison. I would go and do my nighttime vigils when they were going to execute somebody. I wrote poetry about it. That influenced me a great deal and (so did) interacting with the folks who were also doing that.

And then, you know, all of the deal with the Vietnam War and protesting the Vietnam War. And then when I went to UC-Berkeley, of course, that was the hotbed. I mean, everything was so politicized. All you talked about was politics, and I was participating in a lot of the marches and also a lot of the marches that had to do with race relations as well. I can remember marching in Oakland against the Oakland police brutality that was going on there.

Then really, a big highlight was the year that we marched from Berkeley to Sacramento to protest the tuition hikes for the university students. Ronald Reagan was governor at the time. My mother actually went on that march with me, which I think it is very interesting. But we marched north, and when we got to Vallejo, Cesar Chavez and his farm workers joined us and I can still see in my mind this incredible vision of the farm workers coming in with the red and black flags. I mean, it was really pretty incredible.

Those kinds of things really influence you for a long time. They’ll live with me through the end.

How did it form your political views?

I think what really happened was whether it was the marches against the war or the tuition hikes or the march against police brutality and those kinds of things, (they) really taught me the importance of being engaged and being politically aware and active.

You said you dropped out. What happened?

Well, I mean, I don’t know that I can explain it any other way except that I tuned in, turned on and dropped out.

It wasn’t the right time for me, I think, because I had always been very studious and all that sort of thing. I think one of the things that happened (was I got so) involved in all of these other things that were going on.

It was a different kind of education.

It really was a different education. And then I think another thing that happened at the time that really helped shape my beliefs and who I am was my brother came out as gay.

He came out as gay and probably, if you’d been anywhere close to the San Francisco Bay area at the time, you would have seen one of those mushroom clouds over at the house. My mom and dad — it was horrible. And they actually disowned him for a long time. He suffered greatly. He really did.

Between the combination of being rejected by his mom and dad and having this psychologically abusive kind of relationship, he said, well maybe I’m not gay. Maybe I’m not supposed to be gay. And so then he got married. He was married for 25 years and has two kids. But then they got divorced several years ago, and the day after Thanksgiving in 2001 he and his partner Joe had a commitment ceremony in Indiana. We all went back there for it. It was pretty incredible.

How did you take it?

You know, I think my relationships — the people that I met at Berkeley — helped me to be very accepting of him.

How is your relationship now, the two of you?

The entire time that he was married — I mean, we always loved to be together — but there was always this kind of barrier because I knew, and he knew that I knew.

He couldn’t really be who he was, and he was living this lie. And I remember him calling me to tell me — they were coming out for Thanksgiving — and he said, “You know, Libby and I are getting divorced. I already got the tickets. So when we come out I’m going to stay with you and they’re going to stay in a hotel.”

He said when I get there I’m going to tell you why, and I said I already know why. And I have to tell you since that happened, since he has been out and open, our relationship is pretty incredible. It’s very strong. We have a strong bond. And I absolutely love his partner.

When you look at that experience and you see legislation like the marriage amendment, for example… what was going through your mind?

I have to say I thought about my brother and Joe (his partner) and what they’ve gone through in order to try to legally equate marriage, and they still aren’t there. I mean, there are cases all the time where people have spent thousands and thousands of dollars in legal fees and then at the end something happens and they don’t have what they thought they had.

I have to tell you my oldest daughter spent eight years in a gay relationship, a lesbian relationship, and my youngest daughter was self-identified as a lesbian until about two years ago and she just got married to a man. (Laughs)

I remember taking classes on sexuality at the university, and their two experiences clearly are indicative of the fact that sexuality is on a continuum. Most people tend to see sexuality as black or white. You’re either gay or you’re not gay… The reality is it is along a continuum. There are people who could never think of having anything other than a heterosexual relationship or anything other than a gay relationship, you know, same-sex. But then, all along the way, there are all different kinds of manifestations of sexuality.

Why did you run for the House?

You know, I had been on the school board for a long time, and I quickly found out when I first got on the school board that what impacted the schools more than me as a local school board member was what went on in Phoenix — the legislation that was passed, the funding and that sort of thing.

So I got really involved in the state and national associations. The more attuned I became of what was going on with the Arizona Legislature I decided that, you know, if there ever came an opening I would run for the Legislature and try to change it from within — having no idea what the heck I was thinking about.

Did you know that going as a Democrat and becoming a member of the minority, you wouldn’t be as effective in changing things there?

I knew of the partisanship. I mean, I had gone and testified in committees and that sort of thing. I understood the partisanship.

The problem was I thought that if you used logic and reason you could make a difference. So my favorite saying is: Logic and reason have no place in the Arizona Legislature. You can’t talk about prevention and, you know, looking to the future and so on and so forth. It doesn’t work with a lot of the members.

So that has been frustrating for me to know that as a member of the minority I can’t have a lot of influence. But sometimes I can do things behind the scenes, and that’s what I have to kind of hold on to.

You have had 44 foster kids. That’s a lot of kids.

That’s a lot of kids, not all at once, obviously.

What led you to be a foster parent? Why complicate your life?

Well, I haven’t been a foster parent since 1988, I think. At the time I was married to the girls’ dad, and because of his background — he always felt he wanted to help kids — I felt like, well, you know, I could do this. So we started investigating it, signed up for it, took the classes, and I have to say that has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life as well.

I think a lot of the skills that I possess came from working with those kids in my own home. It is one thing to work with them in a center like the child care family center, but when you have them in your own home it’s totally different because you are their parent. But you are also in many ways engaged with their biological parents in the picture. So you have to learn to balance a lot of those different things. And you also learn how to invest yourself in someone or something and be able to let it go.

Was that the toughest part — letting go?

Learning that was the hardest thing of all. I have to tell you my very first foster daughter. She was eight days younger than my oldest daughter. So she came to live with me when she was two-and-a-half. And she stayed with me until she was five.

In fact, we also took in her infant sister. The little girl, the baby, was born and they removed her from the mom as well and so they placed her with me. They decided they wanted to have the kids adopted, so the day that they came and took the girls to move into the new home was very traumatic. The oldest one — I mean I had to drag her out from under the bed. It was terrible. I mean the state really did a poor job on this one.

And I remember crying for like two or three days afterwards. And then I said, you know, the kids come to you and you do what you can for them and help me to see that there are other ways of living, and then you have to let them go. They are not your children unless you adopt them, and we chose not to adopt because we already had three of our own. And my thought is even if they don’t remember me — maybe they were real little when they arrived and they don’t remember me — maybe there’s some like little piece in their heart where I am.

Up Closer

Tell me about your childhood.

I grew up in Indiana, in Logansport. It was a small town. It’s still a small town. I think it was, you know, a good start but I was really pleased — well, looking back —when my dad moved the family to Berkeley, California. So I was there. I started my junior year in high school in Berkeley.

You said in hindsight you were happy to —

— I’m glad, you know, because (in a) small town there’s not a lot of experiences available for you there. The big deal was January with the state basketball championships. I mean, for high school. That was the big thing.

Are you of Hispanic decent?

No, I am not.

Tell me about your family.

My mom was originally from West Virginia, and my dad was born and raised in Indiana. My ex-husband was Latino, and he was actually a migrant worker and became a citizen of the United States when he was, I think, 10 or 12. But I can remember his mother telling us stories, true stories, about what happened, about working, about traveling from place to place to pick the crops and that sort of thing. And my ex-husband remembers a lot as well.